Last Days of the Age

Cancer Sufferer Leaves Emotional Final Message

Click on link to see video.

Blessings in Christ Jesus.

³ Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. ⁴ Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

As disciples of Christ we are called to a narrow way.  For Christ declared:

¹³ “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. ¹⁴ Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Mat. 7:13-14)

And it is by this narrow gate and our humility that we will be judged. Yes none of us are perfect in ourselves, but still there is a narrow gate we are called to strive through. But in fact it seems difficult. But as we go forth and find peace in Christ, some of those presumed difficulties become easy burdens. For Christ also said:

²⁵ Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. ²⁶ And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear.

²⁷ But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”

²⁸ And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”

²⁹ So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”

³¹ And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” ³² And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

³³ Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”

(Mat. 14:25-33)

Here we see Christ walking on water to the disciples in the middle of the sea. And Peter, wanting to be with Christ asked to come out with Him. And Peter soon becomes afraid because of the wind and begins to sink.

I recently had a conversation. There was a quip about rocking the boat. My reply was, you have to swim sometime. The response was “I might drown”. Then it dawned on me, in my walk with Christ, that the Lord pointed me to the above Scriptures. What the Lord wanted me to see is that it’s not so much swimming as it is walking on water that He calls us to. And by faith we can. Notice what the Lord’s response to Peter was .

“O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

The Lord has decreed that we have authority with just a little bit of faith. Even no bigger than a mustard seed. We can walk in His footsteps. For even Scripture says:

¹⁵ And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. ¹⁶ He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. ¹⁷ And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; ¹⁸ they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:15-18)

If we have faith in Christ, and we follow Him as He has called us and appointed us to His ministry and gifts we will not just swim but He will pick us up out of the water so that we can walk on it. These things are done by faith.

¹⁴ Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. ¹⁵ And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. (I John 5:14-15)

¹⁸ There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. (I John 4:18)

Now let me write a bit more about what faith is. We know what Scripture says about faith.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. ² For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.³ By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. (Heb. 11:1-3)

And I know that this Scripture is pointing to our Hope and Salvation in Christ. I also see that it points to our walk in Christ that if He has promised to give us any power in this world it is for His Glory and to draw men and women to Salvation in Him alone. That we cannot walk in any  such power unless we have proven ourselves as trustworthy to Him in our zeal to perform His will on the basis of Mark 16:15-16. But also in our obedience to not walk according to the ways of this world but according to the ways of Christ.

How do we get to such a point of faith? It seems a great mystery to many, but the truth is that it begins with a hunger to know Christ and not reject Scripture. For if we reject Truth we cannot have faith. If we have faith we have the Truth and we have Christ Jesus our Lord, our King. So then we must study Scripture laying aside our own preconceptions seeking understanding from Christ.

²⁶ These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. ²⁷ But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will^[a] abide in Him. (IJohn 2:26-27)

This of course does not mean we cannot receive a teaching from a man, but we need to measure all things in light of Scripture. This also means we must leave behind the cult of personalities who covet attention from men. Who also pervert the Gospel for their own gain.

Now I haven’t completely addressed why Peter’s faith was challenged so that he began to sink.

³⁰ But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”

So then the boisterous wind can represent winds of doctrine, worldy challenges in our life and lack of focus on Christ and our walk with Him. It can also represent spiritual attacks from the devil. All the more reason to walk in Christ. Because those challenges are real. The devil will always be there to challenge our faith. Men and women will always be there to counter our walk because they are of the world and we are not.

So then let us press into our faith in Christ to do the Lord’s will. Let us walk on the water prepared for us. For that water before us will be nothing but a sea of glass for us to walk upon. No wind of doctrine from men or satan can throw us from the water’s surface if we are securely in our faith.

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.³ For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. (Heb. 12:1-3)

To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; 11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (2Peter 1:1-11)

If ever there was exhortation to stay true in our faith, this is it. Peter, an apostle of Christ appealing to those he ministered to and the words given to him by Christ, preserved for us today are words to live by. If there were no other exhortation in Scripture, these alone could stand by itself.

His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue

There is no other to believe in or follow than Christ. He is sufficient.

But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.

Here is a pattern the Lord has given us. That if we consider this pattern that begins with faith and ends with love. But we cannot skip any consideration for the other aspects conveyed here. So faith leads to virtue which is a strength and conformity in a standard. This virtue cannot stand without knowledge. This is the knowledge of Christ in our relationship with Him defined by the Holy Scriptures so that we know we are in relationship with the right Spirit. Then if we have knowledge, we must have self control. We cannot chase after every desire that enters us, but must be in check as to the desires of the Lord verses those things of the world. So then if we have faith, knowledge and virtue we then be able to persevere in our Lord and His ways. Regardless of the pressures and influence of others in this world. Whether they be social, governmental, religious or otherwise. These things lead to godliness which is a loyal devotion to our Christ. All this sums up our love, first for Christ, then to our brothers and also for the lost.

Peter gives us a cause and effect for following this line of thinking in action. The positive:

For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But more importantly the negative:

 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

Shortsighted, even to blindness. What a terrible pronouncement for those who lack in their walk with Christ. For this would even lead to dissension and separation in the Body of Christ. Ultimately it leads to the falling away of believers if left unrepentant and astray. There is a deep and spiritual warning here to check ourselves before the Lord so that we have neither spot nor wrinkle.

But we who are Christ’s are neither shortsighted nor blind. But we were called to walk in the Spirit as Paul exhorted us. And the fruits thereof are of the utmost importance in our walk. These fruits I believe are at the heart of Peter’s exhortation as quoted above. Paul wrote it this way:

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control.
(Gal. 5:22)

I see some overlap here as to what Peter wrote. But the point is made. We are to press on into the Lord’s Glory by His holiness and righteousness and not our own so that we may receive the crown of Glory that He has promised in everlasting life!

In a world full of voices claiming to look inside yourself or rely on yourself. A world that declares self reliance. I declare to you this day that there is no good thing within you. There may be good intentions to do the right thing. We may occasionally do the right thing, but our unrepentant heart is bent upon evil continually. It is self serving, self preserving and our thought life can be focused upon self. That is the voice of the world. We hear it in commercials when they say we need to treat our self or feed our self, pamper our self in some way. We hear it on the news, on tv shows, on the radio, magazines and newspapers. We hear it from politicians, social workers and every unrepentant person in this earth. These are the things that the world calls us to.

Even when we do something right the motivation can still be self. People want recognition for good deeds and good thoughts. But what did Christ teach? Didn’t he teach that we are full of sin and there is no good thing, no possible redemption within ourselves? Was not His whole ministry on earth to show that we are in need of saving from our sins?

Matthew 1:21
And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

For even the apostle Paul preached:

⁹ What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. (Romans 3:9)

Even King David in the Psalms declares the Lord’s purpose:

¹⁷ The Lord is righteous in all His ways,
Gracious in all His works.
¹⁸ The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth.
¹⁹ He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
He also will hear their cry and save them.
²⁰ The Lord preserves all who love Him,
But all the wicked He will destroy. (Psalm 145:17-20)

The Lord is indeed near to all who call upon Him in Truth. Who seek Truth apart from their own desires. So that their wickedness can be turned to His righteousness.

…we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.  ²¹ For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2Cor. 5:20-21)

Servant Authority

A reminder for me and a message for all the Body of Christ.